


Ain Lukot, Ain Hodnes, Ain Keryon, Ain Baga

by luckeyygirl



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Enemy Tattoos, Enemy-Identifying Marks, F/F, F/M, Minor canon divergence, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate Tattoos, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:21:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6289723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckeyygirl/pseuds/luckeyygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One wrist holds the name of your soulmate. One wrist bears the name of your greatest enemy. The only way to know which is which is to meet one of them. Hold onto the hope that you won't end up with the same name on both of your wrists, because life never promises to be fair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Dream

**Author's Note:**

> So, here's the first chapter of my first ever fanfic. I've read fic for far longer than I can really remember, and I've been a writer for just as long but I never tried my hand here. Clexa changed that for me. After the travesty of 3x07 I guess I was inspired to try to fix the stupid as all hell vision jrot left us all with. This was inspired partially, sort of mostly, by a post on tumblr about soulmates/enemies names being tattooed on your wrist. I just put my own The 100/Clexa spin on it really. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think, whether its through kudos or comments. I wavered in my decision to post this since I don't have the second chapter written, but I'm hoping it'll motivate me to write tomorrow. Thanks in advance I guess! :)

These walls are really starting to feel like they’re closing in on Clarke. She’s been trapped in this room for what feels like her entire life and she has more than accepted the fact that she will never see anything outside of this steel prison. Well, at least until she takes that one last stroll through the Ark on her way to the floating air lock. “The Ark that was nothing more than a _bigger_ steel prison,” Clarke thinks. She has always thirsted for something better, for something bigger, for something **more**. Haunted by dreams of the ground and all the delights, and terrors, that it was sure to hold-that is what decorates the walls between which Clarke is trapped. Drawings-imaginations brought to life-surround her. Visions of a life filled with more than anything the Ark had ever, or really could ever, offer her.

Clarke never really had any lasting hope of witnessing the things she’s drawn in person. They were supposed to remain on the Ark for at least another hundred years-well past her lifetime. She supposes her current shortened life expectancy isn’t such a hardship then. “Not like much would have changed. I’d have lived and died in space, wishing for nothing more than to be on the ground. Hardly a loss,” Clarke said to herself. “It was worth it.” She knows it was. The people of the Ark deserve to know the truth and she would make the same choices all over again if it meant there was a chance of warning them. Her father was right and he got floated for it. The only saving grace Clarke had was her age. “That isn’t going to matter for much longer,” Clarke huffs.

Looking down at the watch that once belonged to her father as it ticks away the minutes closer and closer to Clarke’s eighteenth birthday, and her execution, her eyes are drawn to the tattoo beneath it, the tattoo that’s been there just about as long as she can remember. It is simple and elegant all at once. It is also painful and devastating because now it is just a reminder of everything Clarke will never get to have. She traces over the lines of the name-written in the most serene and beautiful script she could have ever imagined, and Clarke is an artist.

Lexa.

Clarke has had this tattoo since she was eleven. She can remember the pain of it waking her up in the middle of the night, body in a fever pitch, feeling like her wrist was being sawed off. Her screams woke her mother, who rushed into the room to comfort a screaming, terrified Clarke as the final line was being drawn to complete the x in her name. Clarke had heard the stories, had known this was going to happen. Her mother and father had showed her theirs, Jake and Abigail respectfully, permanently inked on the insides of their wrists. She knew this was how it worked: you wake up one day to find your soulmates name indelibly written on your wrist. Clarke just hadn’t been prepared for it to happen then, on her eleventh birthday.

As the story goes, you are supposed to receive your soulmate designation on your sixteenth birthday, when it was believed you would be mature enough to handle that information. No one before Clarke had ever received their mark before that age. No one after her had either. She was an anomaly, something the rest of the kids on the Ark never failed to remind her of. It wasn’t so much bullying as hushed whispers in the hallways, in classrooms. Talk of how she was the youngest to ever receive their mark. Murmurs of how it was unprecedented that an eleven year old got marked, of how different Clarke was, how different she **had** to be because of it.

 

Her parents tried to figure out how it happened. Jake and Abby both delved into research, tried to find anything that would help explain the situation their only child found herself in. They constantly came up empty handed. No one had any answers. Jake wanted to keep Clarke’s mark a secret, worried that it would make his little girl a target for ridicule, or worse. It wasn’t until Abby reminded him of the program that he relented. Well not at first.

 

“Screw the program Abby! This is Clarke we’re talking about! Our Clarke! Our daughter!” was Jake’s initial response. Abby just closed her eyes and hung her head. “I **know** it’s Clarke, Jake. But you know as well as I do that this can’t be kept a secret. Not for long. Not with Ark technology at work!” Abby said. Jake stopped his pacing to join his wife on their couch, “What do we do then Abby? She’s eleven! Tell me what we do. Tell me how we protect her. How do I protect my little girl?” At this Abby looked up and met the iridescent blue eyes of her husband, eyes that also belonged to her daughter. Cupping Jake’s face in her hands she whispered, “I don’t know Jake. I don’t know how to protect Clarke. I don’t know if we **can**.”

 

Ark technology was always something to be admired. Lightyears ahead of anything left behind on the ground 97 years ago, it was more of a living, breathing entity than hardware and software. From full body scanners that could detect the common cold to microchips that prevented pregnancy, the technology on the Ark, the technology that _**was**_ the Ark was unparalleled. 

The most esteemed technology was the program Jake and Abby referred to. An AI driven interface known simply as “the program” it was rumored to be part science, part magic. It tracked the citizens of the Ark and their marks. Scanners in the hallways would transmit captures of marks on the people of the Ark to the program mainframe. They did this unprompted, through clothing and jewelry. So when Abby said there was no hiding this, she meant there was **no** hiding it. As soon as Clarke left their living quarters her mark would be catalogued and anyone in a position of authority on the Ark would know that an eleven year old had received a designation. Abby’s status as a member of the council did not protect Clarke from the gossip that was sure to follow. Or the questions that Ark leaders were sure to ask.

 

Clarke, at eleven years old, didn’t know what her parents were worried about protecting her from. Clarke, at eleven, thought she’d have to wait another five years to experience this excitement. Clarke, at eleven, relished in the happiness she was being promised because she had a soulmate. Clarke, at eleven years and a few months old, found out. That’s when the whispers started. Everywhere she went the murmurs followed, and as a result her parents dove back into their search for answers, coming up fruitless again. The only conclusion that was drawn was that the connection Clarke would share with her soulmate would be unrivaled in its strength.

 

There was only one issue with this conclusion. It was that there was no guarantee that this Lexa was Clarke’s soulmate: because a soulmate designation was only one of two tattoos that you could expect to get. The other would be the name of your greatest enemy. The best part though? There was no way to tell which name was which until you came into contact with the person attached to one of the names on your wrists. All you could do was hope that you didn’t end up with the same name on both wrists, something that had only happened once in the entire history of the Ark.

 

It was hardly ever mentioned anymore it had happened so long ago. In the very early days of the Ark, before the Ark even _was_ the Ark really, when the hope for the continuance of the human race was first thrust into space, there was a man and a woman with identical tattoos on their wrists. They met when they were eighteen, both confused and lost and wondering how to handle a situation where they were both each other’s soulmates and each other’s greatest enemies. At first there was hope that while the names were identical, that they didn’t belong to the same people. After all, there were twelve other stations with people to search through. The couple searched the mainframe over and over, holding onto the faith that life could not be so cruel as to assign them the same person as both soulmate and enemy.

 

It quickly became obvious that such a hope was without merit. There were no others with the couple’s names. Life never promises anyone that it will be fair, or kind, or considerate. This couple destined to constantly come together and tear each other apart, went down in history as the only recorded pairing of soulmates and enemies. It was believed that they spent the rest of their lives separated, suffering through the immense pain that came with finding your soulmate and then living apart from them.

 

The entrance of two guards into her room drew Clarke from her reverie. Not that guards were unusual, she was imprisoned after all, but she was in solitary. The only time she really ever saw guards were during meal times. Two men armed with shock batons entered her room and drew her up from the floor. Mistaking the wristband they locked around her as a sign that she was about to be executed she resisted. “I’m not eighteen yet! I have another month left! You’re early! You can’t do this!” she yelled. “I’m still a minor, you can’t float me yet! I’m not ready!” The guards paid her no mind as they attempted to remove the watch from her wrist, “You won’t be needing this where you’re going little girl,” said the taller of the two. Clarke fought back with everything she had, refusing to give up the last piece of her father that she had left. She broke free from their grip and ran into the hallway, straight into the arms of….. “Mom?!” Clarke whispered.

 

“Easy baby. Easy. It’s okay Clarke,” said Abby. Reaching up to brush an errant curl out of her daughters face, Abby met the clear blue eyes swirling with confusion. “Mom, what the….what’s going on? I’m still seventeen. They can’t float me.” Abby hushed her daughter, offering the kind of comfort only a mother could. “You’re not getting floated baby. You’re going to the ground,” Abby explained. Clarke, if possible, was even more confused by this. “What do you mean going to the ground? We’re supposed to be here another like hundred…” Clarke’s sentence was cut short by the tranquilizer the guards injected her with. Steadily losing consciousness, Clarke could barely focus on her mother’s face as she imparted one last sentence on her only child. With a kiss to Clarke’s forehead Abby gently prayed, “May we meet again.”

 

One of the guards took Clarke from Abby’s arms, lifting her without effort and carrying her down the hallway. Abby wiped the tears from her face and headed back to the control room in Alpha Station, where the launch of the dropship holding the hundred delinquents would be monitored. The Council had come to this decision despite her best efforts, biased though they might have been. Abby, as Chief Medical Officer and a Council member, knew that something had to be done. The catastrophic failure of the life support system on the Ark that her husband had discovered wasn’t something that could be fixed. It was clear that other options had to be explored, she just disagreed with the decision to send a hundred _kids_ to the ground without knowing if it was even survivable. 

They were seen as expendable because they were all criminals, all sentenced to be floated once they were of age, so even if they didn’t survive the trip, or if the planet was still too saturated with radiation to be livable, it wasn’t truly a loss in the eyes of the council. That was, of course, because none of them had children among those hundred, none except Abby. All that was left for Abby to do was monitor the situation as closely as possible, and find a way to hope, beyond all reason, that not only would they survive the drop to Earth, but that they would be able to find a way to Mount Weather, otherwise the lot of them were as good as dead.

 

Clarke came to some twenty minutes later, already strapped into the dropship and surrounded by ninety-nine other underage criminals. Shaking the fog from her head, she looked around and came face to face with none other than Wells Jaha, Chancellor’s son and her former best friend. “You’ve got to be kidding me? I’m being sent to Earth with a group of teenage delinquents, a trip I might not even survive, and on top of that I have to be sitting next to the person responsible for my father’s death? I’d like to float **myself** right now,” Clarke thought. 

“Are you alright Clarke?” said Wells, clearly nervous. Clarke turned sharp eyes on him and said, “I’m great Wells. Why the hell are you here?” Wells swallowed and explained that he got himself arrested shortly before the dropship was launched to make sure she would be okay. “Oh so NOW you care? NOW you want to be a friend? You know when I could have used you as a friend Wells? When I trusted you not to say anything about my dad, but you couldn’t do that could you? You’re the reason he’s dead! You’re the reason I’m even here right now! Just leave me alone. Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me. And once we’re on the ground, IF we survive, stay as far away from me as possible.”

 

The trip took what felt simultaneously like five minutes and five years. Three idiots unstrapped themselves and were doing acrobatics in the air by Clarke’s head, obviously wishing for injury or death. “If you three don’t strap yourselves back in you’ll be the first to die on this godforsaken trip,” she warned them. “Ease up Princess, try to enjoy yourself,” the one with the wavy brown hair replied. “I’ll enjoy myself when we’re on the ground, hopefully not being poisoned by radiation, and I can get away from all of you people, especially you Mr. I Wasted Three Months of Oxygen,” Clarke said. Before the spacewalker could come up with a response the dropship started rocking back and forth, and the two other kids floating with him ended up flying head first into the wall. Dead on impact, spacewalker sobered immediately and held on for dear life as the dropship passed through Earth’s atmosphere.

As the parachute deployed to slow their descent a message from Chancellor Jaha started playing. Clarke tuned most of it out; she knew it was mostly bluster and bravado. He explained that they were being sent to Earth to see if it was survivable, that if they cooperated and reported back that their crimes would be pardoned. Clarke noted that there was no mention of the failure of the life support system on the Ark-which was the **real** reason they got sent down here. That and the fact that as criminals they were all expendable. 

The message cut out shortly after the Chancellor started to explain their wristbands, quickly followed by a very rough landing in what Clarke could only assume was a forest based on her Earth Skills classes. There was a commotion as everyone attempted to get out of their seats at once, to look out the windows, to experience life on the ground for the first time. They all rushed the door and only stopped when Clarke yelled, “Wait!” Taking a stand on the seat she had just vacated Clarke warned them, “If you open that door we could all be dead in minutes from radiation poisoning!” 

An older boy in the back of the dropship answered her, “In that case Princess, we’re dead either way since we have no food or water in here. Might as well see what the ground is all about, even if we only survive for sixty seconds.” Clarke’s reply was cut off by a yell of “ _Bellamy?!”_ from across the ship. A girl no older than 16 stood up on her row of seats to get a better look of where the voice was coming from. “Bellamy is that you?!”

 

“Octavia?” the one called Bellamy answered. They met in the middle, a reunion seemingly years in the making if the hug they exchanged was anything to judge by. “I thought I was never going to see you again Bell. Wait how am I seeing you? Why are you here?” asked Octavia. “My sister, my responsibility. Did you really think I would let them send you to the ground without me here to protect you O?” Bellamy said with a grin. Cries of “ **Sister?!”** echoed through the dropship. Everyone knew who they were then. The Blake siblings-Bellamy and Octavia- whose mother got floated when Octavia was discovered living under the floor in their quarters, being kept a secret because of the one child rule imposed on the Ark. 

“It’s the girl from under the floor!” someone yelled out. Octavia scowled and moved to show this person exactly what she thought of that remark only to be held back by her brother. “Why don’t you give them something else to talk about O? Like being the first human on the ground in a hundred years? What do you say?” said Bellamy. “What are we waiting for then big brother? Open that bad boy and let’s hit the ground,” Octavia grinned.

Bellamy punched the button to open the dropship door. Before it had even opened all the way the delinquents crowded around it, trying to peer outside, equal parts intrigued and afraid of what the ground had in store for them. Taking two, three, four steps out of the door Octavia Blake’s feet hit the dirt of the forest floor, the sound drowned out by her easy yell of “We’re back bitches!!” “Well,” Clarke thought, “that’s one way to announce our presence. Remember Clarke, this was your dream when your reality sucked. You wanted the ground. Now you have it. Hopefully it really was a dream, and not a nightmare. Here goes nothing.” With that, Clarke Griffin stepped out of the dropship door and onto solid ground for the first time in her seventeen years, unaware that her life was about to change drastically because of it. 


	2. The Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The delinquents adjust to being on solid ground for the first time and begin their search for the promises Mount Weather is said to hold for them. Meanwhile, Abby enlists the help of a teenager in what could prove to be a life-threatening plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, here's chapter two. Let me start by telling you that of the list of things I planned on including in this update, I only got through two. So this fic is already going to be longer than initially anticipated. Also, I know that for some of you, if not most of you, rehashing the events of Season 1 may seem redundant and boring, but I'm going to ask that you stick with it. I promise not to drag it out more than necessary, and I promise that I will do my best to make it worth it in the end. I promise you there's a reason for it. With that said, hope you enjoy this update, feed your author with kudos or comments or both. Let me know what you think. Happy reading! :)

“Twenty-four hours. Less than twenty-four hours and this is already hopeless,” Clarke groaned to herself. They had landed some fourteen hours ago, in the middle of a forest with no idea where they actually were and no clue where to go from there. Clarke’s memories are hazy, mostly due to the lingering tranquilizer in her bloodstream, but she could swear her mother told her to head for Mount Weather. The only problem was, Clarke had no idea where Mount Weather was. “I have no floating idea where **I** am, let alone some mountain that’s supposed to hold our salvation,” Clarke said under her breath. The other delinquents were all too busy in their fascination with the surrounding plant life to worry about their next move. That one girl, Octavia, had already taken off chasing after a glowing butterfly of all things. “Hopeless,” Clarke repeated.

“Hey Princess, where you headed?” came from her left. Turning around to meet the eyes of the daredevil that got two delinquents killed before they even breached the Earth’s atmosphere, Clarke glared. “That’s really none of your business spacewalker. Go waste someone else’s oxygen yeah?” Clarke replied. Stopping her attempt to walk away with a hand on her wrist, Finn pleaded, “Look I’m sorry about that, I am. But we were all locked up; we’re all criminals, so you have to stop acting like you’re better than any of us Princess.” Wrenching her arm out of his grip, Clarke cried, “I _know_ I’m not any better than you. You’re the ones calling me Princess. I just want to do what we were sent here to do, before night falls and we’re forced to spend the night here.”

“Leave her alone!” Wells yelled. Clarke couldn’t help but to roll her eyes; she didn’t need his help, not now, not ever. “Go away Wells. I don’t need your help. I learned that the hard way.” Stalking away from both boys Clarke didn’t hear Wells’ whispered apology, or Finn’s “Damn, I think she might hate you more than me.” She needed to find some way to locate Mount Weather. She needed to find some way to get them all to Mount Weather. “God knows what secrets this forest is hiding, it’s been soaked in radiation for a hundred years. That can’t be safe for anyone,” Clarke thought.

She heard the footsteps before she saw the person following her, not that she had to guess who it would be. “Jesus Wells! What part of leave me alone is so hard for you to understand?!” Hands held up in a gesture of surrender, the person replied “Not Wells. Number two on the Princess’ most hated people list here. I’m Finn. Finn Collins.” “Yeah, I know who you are. We all know who you are. Your little excursion cost three months of oxygen for the Ark, you’re pretty infamous buddy,” said Clarke. Using the knowledge from her classes on the Ark, Clarke determined that Mount Weather had to be somewhere to the east of where they landed. She remembered her mother saying that they were setting the dropship course to land as close as possible to Mount Weather, but with the failure of the communication system Clarke had little hope that the other systems remained functional. All she could do was hope that they weren’t **too** far away. “I need higher ground,” Clarke mumbled.

“We just fell out of space, you’d think you would want your feet firmly on the ground they just discovered,” Finn replied. Whipping her head in his direction, Clarke rolled her eyes and answered, “What I want is to ensure that I survive on the ground for longer than the fifteen hours or so we’ve been here. In order to make that a reality we have to find Mount Weather. In order to find Mount Weather, I need to be able to _**see**_ Mount Weather. Do you see where I’m going with this yet spacewalker? Or do I need to spell it out for you?” Chuckling at the overwhelming sass practically radiating off of Clarke, Finn asked, “Well how do you propose you accomplish that then Princess?”

Clarke wasn’t sure. Looking around it became clear she only had one option. “I’m going to climb a tree.” Finn just gaped at her. “Do you have a better idea? Daylight is waning and unless there’s a ladder or a jetpack in your back pocket, I don’t have a lot of options. We **have** to find Mount Weather, or we’re as good as dead out here. So either make yourself useful and spot me so I can climb this _monstrosity_ , or go back to camp with the other idiots.” Shaking himself, Finn stepped forward and laced his hands together to create a step for Clarke to reach the bottommost branches of the tree they stood under. “Have you done this before?” Finn asked. “Is he _serious?_ ” Clarke asked herself. Looking down at him as she attempted to lift herself into the tree she told him, “Yeah, I had a tree in my **backyard** on the Ark, you know, since I’m a _Princess_ and all.” She made sure to push off of him harder than necessary, barely suppressing her giggle when he stumbled and fell to the ground.

Clarke shifted her focus to each movement she made while she climbed the tree, carefully reaching for each branch, forcing herself not to look down because despite growing up in the stars, heights weren’t really her thing. Finally making her way to the top of the tree, Clarke steadied her feet as her head breached the collection of branches shielding her from sunlight shining down upon the Earth. “So this is what direct sunlight feels like. It’s even better than I dreamed it would be,” Clarke reflected. Shaking herself out of her momentary stupor, Clarke turned her head from side to side to observe her surroundings. Looking out over the expanse of woods that seemed to stretch on for miles, Clarke caught sight of a mountain in the distance. “Found you Mount Weather!” Clarke shouted.

Beginning her descent from the tree, Clarke heard Finn asking, “So I guess you found the mountain we’re all supposed to head for Princess?” Craning her head back to see him, Clark stumbled and her foot slid from the branch she was on. With a none too subtle scream she fell, thinking only that “of course **this** is how I’m going to die.” Her landing was much less painful than anticipated, mostly because of what had broken her fall. Pushing herself up on her elbows Clarke grunted a half-hearted apology, which Finn met with a rakish grin. “If you wanted a throne Princess, all you had to do was ask.” Making sure to use his ribs as she did so, Clarke stood up and brushed herself off. “Let’s go Collins. We have to tell the others and get to Mount Weather.”

As it turns out, the others could not care less about Mount Weather, or the utopia it would allegedly provide. She was gone for maybe forty-five minutes and already that Bellamy person had turned half the delinquents into a mob hell bent on enjoying their newfound freedom, regardless of their supposed mission. Her pleas went unheeded by most of them, too caught up in exploring the forest around them and finally being able to be whoever they wanted to be. Bellamy, as the ringleader of this new circus, was encouraging them to remove their wristbands, to embrace their recently gifted independence. “Those wristbands are the only thing telling the Ark that we’re all alive right now. We have no radio, no communications system whatsoever, the dropship is practically fried. You take those wristbands off and the Ark will assume we’re all dead which means your families, your friends-they’ll all be dead too,” Clarke warned them.

Met with confused stares all around it dawned on Clarke that aside from her and Wells, no one knew about the life support system failure. “Not for my lack of trying though,” she thought. “They sent us down here for a reason. The Ark is dying. There is only enough oxygen to last another couple of months at the most. They sent us here to see if the ground is survivable, true. But only because the Ark isn’t anymore. Leave your wristbands on: it’s the only way they have to know that we aren’t all dead,” Clarke said.

Of course, it couldn’t be that simple. Bellamy still insisted that the wristbands were just another form of shackles the Ark was using to keep them prisoner. He was the first to remove his wristband. Others followed. One by one they marched up to Bellamy so he could remove their cuffs, each one resulting in another black screen on the diagnostic display in the Alpha Station control room on the Ark.

“That’s another three wristbands gone dark Abby,” said Jackson. “Eight in total.” Abby searched the screen for Clarke’s name, relieved to see her vital signs still being reported. “I don’t understand Jackson. This isn’t what we would expect for radiation poisoning. It’s too quick, and there aren’t enough of them showing up with no vitals. Some of them are in the average range, others are spiking. Almost like they’re…excited. Jackson! That’s it! They’re excited. That explains the increased respiratory rate and the quicker pulse,” Abby said. “But Abby,” Jackson responded, “that doesn’t explain the black screens. Or why more keep going blank.”

“I’m not sure what it means either Jackson, but until all of them are dark I refuse to believe it’s because the Earth is killing them,” Abby said. “Do what you can, find me a way to communicate with them, to send a message, something, anything. They’re all just kids Jackson, they need our help.” As Abby made to leave the room Jackson questioned her, “Where are you going? I thought you’d be sat here burning a hole in the diagnostic display from staring at Clarke’s vitals.” Meeting the concerned eyes of her assistant Abby offered a simple response, “I’m going to make sure that Clarke’s screen doesn’t join the list of black ones.”

Leaving the control room of Alpha Station Abby had a sole destination in mind. “I **have** to get to the ground. Clarke is all I have left and I will not leave her to fend for herself on a planet that hasn’t been inhabited in a hundred years,” Abby thought. Following the twists and turns to Mecca Station automatically, Abby sought out the only person she knew would be able to help her. She needed someone smart, someone quick-thinking, someone she could trust. She needed the youngest zero-G mechanic in Ark history. She needed someone just as motivated as she was to get to the ground. She needed Raven Reyes.

Finding her repairing an air lock in the hallway Abby approached her. “Your boyfriend, Finn Collins, he was in lockup wasn’t he? That’s why you were asking about the dropship launch that you shouldn’t have even known about,” Abby queried. Raven raised her head to look at the Council Member. “What’s it to you if he was?” she asked. “Means I’m not the only one with someone I love on the ground,” Abby replied. “I need your help with something. It’s dangerous, crazy, probably destined for failure. Oh and we might get floated for our troubles. But you’re the only person on this floating death chamber that can pull it off,” Abby said. “I always did love a challenge Doc, and with a sales pitch like that I can’t resist. When do we start?” was Raven’s only reply. “Now,” said Abby.

Raven Reyes was not one to follow someone blindly. She was meticulous, and level-headed; she was a rocket scientist, _literally_. Her decision to help Doctor Griffin was made before the question was even posed really. Finn was everything to her. Reaching down to stroke his name on her wrist, Raven couldn’t help but ask Abby where they were going. “You’ll see soon enough. Just hang tight,” Abby told her. Holding tight was all Raven seemed to be able to do anymore. After Finn was locked up she had to face facts: she was alone. No parents, no friends, and now, no Finn. If there was any chance she could get her soulmate back, she was going to take it. Even if it ended in her being floated for the attempt.

Abby led them both to medical, through throngs of sick Ark citizens, past a waiting room overflowing with people, to an abandoned bay holding what seemed to be outdated instruments. “Listen Doc, I don’t know what Sinclair told you, but I’m healthy as a horse. Well as healthy as I assume horses are since I’ve never actually seen one. So this little detour is totally unnecessary,” Raven sassed. “Reyes, shut up for a second,” warned Abby. Peeking through the small window in the door, Abby watched as Councilman Kane walked away from the medical station. “Okay, as for what Sinclair told me…the only pertinent information is that you’re the best mechanic he’s ever seen. That’s why you’re here. But first things first, the Ark is dying,” Abby started to explain. Raven cut her off, “What do you **mean** the Ark is _dying_ Doctor Griffin? We’ve only been up here for ninety-seven years; we’re supposed to be here for at least another hundred. The Ark **can’t** be dying!”

“But it is Raven; there’s a problem with the life support system, there’s only enough oxygen left for three months at most,” Abby continued. “Life support system failure?! I **can’t** fix that Abby! I’m good, I’m fantastic even, but I’m not a miracle worker. Catastrophic system failure is just that- _**catastrophic**_. It’s called that for a reason. No one can fix that. So you brought me up here to tell me what? That we’re all going to be dead in a few months? That my soulmate was sent down to the ground as a sacrifice? For what? An extra thirty seconds of oxygen for Alpha Station?!” Raven yelled. Wrapping her hand around Raven’s mouth, Abby shushed her, “No Raven. Breathe. I didn’t bring you here to fix the unfixable. I brought you here for something much more important than that. Now are you done yelling at me so I can explain the reason I’m risking our lives here?” Raven nodded, silent. “Okay. This is what I need you to do…” Abby began.

“What I need you to do…” Clarke began, “is trust that I know what I’m talking about. Mount Weather is our **only** hope for survival down here. Look around you! We have no food, no water, and no means of obtaining either. The only thing we have is a nonfunctional space ship and ninety-eight teenagers! If we don’t get to Mount Weather we might as well have just stayed on the Ark to get floated as we turned eighteen.” Clarke could see that she was starting to get through to some of them. They weren’t all blinded by the excitement of being free. She could see concern in the eyes of many, fear in the eyes of some. “Mount Weather is about twenty miles east of where we are right now. If we leave now we should make it before dark,” Clarke said.

“And who died and put you in charge Princess? You think because you and Jaha over here are privileged that you just get to assume authority?” Bellamy questioned. “Ark hierarchy has no place on the ground _Your Majesty_ , as far as I’m concerned you’re not my leader.” His remarks were met with cheers of agreement from more people than she cared to admit, but Clarke would not be deterred. “Do I have to remind you that we were _**all**_ in lockup? That we were _**all**_ sent down here because **all** of us are criminals? We’re all expendable in the eyes of the ‘Ark hierarchy’ Bellamy is accusing me of being a part of. My ‘ _privilege’_ didn’t extend far enough to keep me out of solitary did it? Didn’t save my father’s life when all he wanted to do was warn everyone on the Ark that it was dying. This isn’t about being in charge. This is about survival. I won’t force any of you to come with me. Stay. Go. The choice is yours. But mine has been made. I’m leaving in an hour. Anyone that wants to come with me is more than welcome, the rest of you…all I can say is good luck,” Clarke sighed.

When the hour was up Clarke left the dropship, accompanied by four other delinquents. “Better than going alone I guess,” Clarke supposed. Her companions left much to be desired as far as she was concerned. She knew that Wells was going to come, whether she liked it or not it seemed that he was determined to make her life a living hell, as if he hadn’t already accomplished that once. Joining her former best friend was the spacewalker, the butterfly chaser, and some tall kid wearing goggles whose name she thought was Jason. Jacob. Jasper. Something like that. “What a motley crew I have going for me,” she thought. They set out heading east towards where she discovered Mount Weather to be, taking only what they could carry on their person.

After walking through the forest for a while the group came upon a break in the trees that led them to a clearing, through the middle of which a river was flowing. Mesmerized by their first sight of natural flowing water, all of them approached the river. The butterfly girl, Octavia, she was the first to start stripping. Shell shocked, half by the girls lack of modesty and half by the undeniably attractive shape of her legs and ass in those tight shorts, Clarke’s jaw dropped and sputtered, “What are you **doing?!”** Octavia merely grinned at her and jumped into the water. “Looks like she’s going for a swim Princess,” Finn answered. “You going to join her?” he asked. Clarke assumed his grin was supposed to be disarming, but she refused to be affected by it. “We don’t have time for swimming guys. We **need** to get to Mount Weather,” Clarke said.

“God Princess, chill out would you? We’ve had a bit of a rough day, dropped out of the sky and all. We can take a few minutes to relax,” Octavia replied. The others quickly started disrobing, ready to take a few moments to enjoy the wonders of the ground. As soon as Clarke reached for her shirt, she saw something move in the water. Something that wasn’t Octavia. “Octavia, get out of the water!” Clarke yelled. “Come on Griffin! Get in here!” Octavia screamed back. “No! Octavia get out of the water right now. There’s something in there!” said Clarke. Before Octavia could even process Clarke’s warning she was sucked under the water as the others watched in horror. Resurfacing about fifteen feet away Octavia called for help, her leg still trapped in the jaw of whatever terror lurked below the surface.

Looking around for a way to get Octavia out of the water, Clarke almost missed the splash of another person jumping in the river. When she turned back to the water she saw the kid with the goggles swimming out towards Octavia, a boy possessed, fearless in his single-minded focus on saving Octavia. Jasper beat the beast off of Octavia and freed her leg- half swimming, half floating to the rocks next to him, hoisting Octavia out of the water and out of harm’s way. Seeing the river monster coming back for another piece of them he launched himself towards other side of the river and crawled onto the ground at the side of it. Turning over onto his back, Jasper attempted to catch his breath. He then sat up and looked to the rocks where he had left Octavia, who was now being tended to with gentle hands by Clarke.

“Griffin…is she going to be okay?” Jasper questioned. Clarke met his gaze across the river and nodded while tearing off a portion of her shirt to make a bandage for Octavia’s leg. “Yeah thanks to you Goggles, she’s going to be just fine.” Satisfied, Jasper dropped onto his back and laughed. “So much for a relaxing swim!” he laughed. “Delinquents 1- River Monster 0!” Jasper cried. Getting to his feet, Jasper started to look around. They were heading in this direction when they came upon the river, so logic told him that Mount Weather was further ahead through the woods he was currently facing. Deciding to do a little exploring he made his way into the tree line, disappearing from the others’ line of sight.

“Not exactly what I had in mind for my first day on the ground, but at least it was exciting,” commented Octavia. Clarke merely shook her head with a small smile, “You could have _died_ Octavia.” Octavia laughed, “Yeah, but **did** I? No. I call that a success.” After securing the bandage to Octavia’s leg, Clarke and Finn helped her off the ground, looking around for Jasper. “Where the hell did Goggles go?” asked Finn. Wells pointed across the river in answer, “There he is.”

Jasper stood on the very edge of the forest, calling out for their attention. In his hands was a large metal sign, one marked with the words “Mount Weather: 10 Miles.” “Hey! Guys! We did it! We’re almost there! First step: the river! Second step: Mount Weather!” Jasper yelled across the water. Clarke couldn’t stop the disbelieving laugh that fell from her mouth; she couldn’t believe they had actually succeeded. Maybe being on the ground really was going to be a dream come true. “Maybe we’ll all be able to be free and happy and alive down here on the ground,” Clarke thought. Jasper’s yell of “Guys, let’s go!” was cut off by a gurgle. When Clarke looked up she couldn’t believe what she was looking at.

Jasper was still across the river, still holding the Mount Weather sign above his head, eyes still fixed on the group of them making their way to his side of the water. The only difference was the spear protruding from his chest, and the trickle of blood running over his chin, clearly the source of the gurgle as he had tried to speak. Octavia screamed. Clarke felt all the blood in her body rush to her toes. Jasper remained paralyzed, his eyes as unmoving as the rest of him and the tree he was impaled upon. “I traded one nightmare for another. This isn’t a dream, this is reality. And this reality-it **floating** sucks,” was Clarke’s last thought before she was tossed to the ground. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I know it seems like I am doing nothing more than mildly fleshing out a few episodes per chapter, but I promise you there is a method to the madness. The first few chapters are going to feel a bit like a history lesson that you probably don't need, but it WILL pick up. And I have changes planned that will make those chapters more than just a retelling of canon events. Give me a chance to get there-that's all I ask.
> 
> As far as updates....I don't have a schedule to give you. I didn't even plan on posting this chapter this soon. But I was motivated and inspired so here we have it. I am going to TRY, emphasis on try, to update at least once a week. My work schedule changes week to week so I do not know which day is going to be my update day. Probably Saturdays but that is subject to change depending on my work schedule. I will do my best though. That much I promise.
> 
> Thanks again for reading (if you made it this far) and for giving this fic, and this author, a chance. I appreciate it more than I could tell you.
> 
> Until next time :)


	3. The Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What do you mean we aren’t alone Princess? What the hell are you talking about?” Bellamy yelled. Finn was the one to answer. “Well if the spear in Jasper’s chest is anything to go by-we aren’t as alone as we thought we were down here, right Princess?” Clarke could only nod. “So now what?” Finn asked. Not for the first time in her life, Clarke found herself overflowing with regret, worry, anger, fear. “Now, spacewalker, we go after Jasper.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. First things first- I want to apologize for the delay for this update. I know I said I was going to try to update weekly and I have been, but being that this past weekend was a holiday I was caught up with my nieces and teaching them how to roller skate. So this is late, but it's here now.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think. Kudos and comments are always welcome. :)

“This is simultaneously the stupidest and craziest fucking plan I’ve ever even heard of,” Raven exclaimed, “and I was the barely out of training zero-G mechanic with a heart murmur that took an unsanctioned spacewalk!” Turning quickly to the door that had just opened, the mechanic was quick to shout “You didn’t hear that Doc!” Simply shaking her head at Raven’s antics Abby replied, “Sure thing Reyes. Now tell me how our master plan is coming along.” Glancing back to her current project, Raven felt the weight of Doctor Griffin’s expectations heavy on her shoulders. “This pod is like four times as old as I am Doc. I’m not sure it would survive being moved let alone launched into space and sent down to Earth with people inside of it,” answered Raven. “That’s why I have the best mechanic the Ark has ever seen looking at it. Tell me what you need and I’ll get you the parts. You just worry about piecing it back together well enough that we can survive the descent to the ground,” Abby supplied.

“The sheet metal and rivets I can get from the scrap hub at work. That isn’t a problem. The only issue I’m going to have is the pressure regulator. I can’t just swipe one of those and hope Sinclair won’t notice.” Raven hung her head, “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to pull this off Abby…I’m doing my best but if that’s not enough then it’s not enough.” Abby knelt down to Raven’s eye level, stopping her work and resting her hand on the mechanic’s shoulder, “Like I said Reyes, you leave the wishing and the hoping and the planning to me. You just focus on building us a ship to get to the people we love okay?” Abby offered in comfort. “Got it Doc. Any news on the hundred?” Raven asked. Abby shook her head in the negative, “but at this point no news is good news. No more black screens and everyone’s vitals have stabili-.” The crackle of the intercom system interrupted Abby’s update, “Abigail Griffin report to Alpha Station Command immediately.” Raven peered up at Abby from underneath the pod, “You were saying Doc?”

Upon reaching the command center Abby was immediately assaulted by Jackson who attempted to drag her to the collection of displays in the center of the room. “We lost another one. Sort of. I’m not really sure. The screen didn’t go black like the others, but his vitals are dangerously low. Which makes next to no sense because fifteen minutes ago they were elevated in what we assumed was excitement. Now he’s barely hanging on. And a few of the others show spikes in heart rate; it happened all within five minutes. We don’t know what’s happening,” Jackson explained. Abby looked at the five screens in question, momentarily closing her eyes upon realizing Clarke’s was one of them. Raking her eyes quickly across the rest she recognized Raven’s boyfriend, Finn Collins, and Chancellor Jaha’s son Wells, were also displaying increased vital signs. “Which one has the low vitals Jackson?” Abby asked. “This one,” Jackson supplied, pointing at the uppermost corner of the screen on the left, “Jordan, Jasper.”

 

“JASPER!” All Clarke could hear over the sound of her own heartbeat was Octavia screaming for Jasper. She was still on the ground, covered mostly by another body, hidden behind one of the boulders to the side of the river. Twisting and turning trying to see who had pushed her to the ground she was met with the concerned brown eyes of Finn Collins, while Wells shielded Octavia on her other side. “What the hell is going on?” Clarke asked. “Sorry for the rough delivery Princess, but I assumed you wouldn’t want to be the next one impaled on a spear,” was Finn’s reply. Rolling her eyes at him she responded, “That isn’t what I meant spacewalker. And you know it. Octavia-are you alright?”

Pushing herself up off the river bed Octavia rose to her feet, favoring her injured leg, “I’m in better shape than Jasper must be. But I can’t walk on this leg, not on my own.” Clarke looked between Finn and Wells, attempting to choose the lesser of two evils. “Wells, stay with Octavia. Finn and I are going to cross the river and help Jasper.” With a silent nod Wells took up his post, guarding Octavia as she rested back against the rock holding her up. “Collins, you’re, unfortunately, with me. Let’s go.” Making her way out from behind the boulder Finn had thrown her next to as a shield, Clarke turned her attention across the river to where Jasper had been, only to find her eyes combing trees with no sign of her fellow delinquent. Stopping abruptly in her tracks Clarke could find no words. Failing to notice that Clarke had stopped, Finn walked right into her back, jostling her out of her silence. “Jasper, where the hell is Jasper?!” Finn looked up and gazed the same empty spot as Clarke and could offer nothing to explain why Jasper wasn’t there anymore.

“We have to get back to the others,” Finn said. “We have to tell them what happened. There’s strength in numbers. We’ll be safer together.” Clarke whirled on him in fury, “What about Jasper? We just leave him?!” Finn stepped back, explaining “We don’t know where he is Princess. Octavia can’t walk; Jaha here already had a bum leg. You and I can’t carry three people. We don’t have a choice.” Accepting the inevitable, Clarke agreed, helping Octavia to stand upright. The group made their way back to the others and was immediately bombarded with questions as soon as they entered the camp the delinquents had started setting. “Hey where’s Jasper?” some Farm Station kid asked. “Where’s my best friend?” Clarke tried to keep them calm, tried to keep them from totally losing their minds before she had a chance to explain what had happened. She saw Bellamy approaching from the corner of her eye and hoped he would be able to wrangle the crowd of scared teenagers.

“Quiet! Let them talk.” Bellamy ordered. A hush fell over the crowd as they all looked first at each other, then at Bellamy, awaiting the next directive. “Finn,” Bellamy continued, “what happened?” It was then that Bellamy caught sight of Octavia, and her lack of pants, and the blood running down her leg. “Octavia! What the hell happened out there? You were supposed to be searching for Mount Weather! I knew I shouldn’t have let you go alone.” “None of us are alone Bellamy,” Clarke answered. “There are others. Some kind of animal attacked Octavia while she was in a river. And something, or someone, attacked Jasper. We had to leave him to get Octavia back to camp.”

“What do you mean we aren’t alone Princess? What the hell are you talking about?” Bellamy yelled. Finn was the one to answer. “Well if the spear in Jasper’s chest is anything to go by-we aren’t as alone as we thought we were down here, right Princess?” Clarke could only nod. “So now what?” Finn asked. Not for the first time in her life, Clarke found herself overflowing with regret, worry, anger, fear. “Now, spacewalker, we go after Jasper.”

“We don’t even know where he is Clarke. We don’t know who’s out there or what kind of weapons they have. They threw a spear through his chest! It isn’t safe,” warned Finn. Blonde hair whipping behind her as she turned to face him Clarke said, “What makes you think we’re any safer here? Or anywhere? We don’t know who they are or where they are or how many of them even exist! But I will not leave Jasper to die. He’s one of us. So you can either help me look and rescue him, or you can stay here and hope whoever’s out there doesn’t come looking in this direction.” The boy who had asked after Jasper, Monty was his name, was the first to speak up. “I’m going with you. Jasper is my best friend. I won’t leave him out there alone.” “I’m going too,” said a determined voice from the ground. “O, you can’t even stand, you aren’t going anywhere,” replied Bellamy. Preparing to argue with her brother, Octavia was cut off by Clarke’s voice saying, “He’s right Octavia. You’re injured. You need to stay here so they can clean and bandage your leg better.” Accepting the fact that there would be no changing their minds, Octavia was supported by two other delinquents and led into a tent for her wound to be tended to.

“You aren’t going without me Clarke,” offered Wells. “I’m going to look out for you, whether you like it or not.” Clarke was getting really tired of having to tolerate the presence of the person she hated most in the world, or in space for that matter, but the more people they had looking for Jasper the better. She nodded silently in acceptance. Finn said he would be going too. Bellamy was the last to volunteer to go, and one of his lackeys followed him-John Murphy. Together they set off through the woods, retracing the footsteps they had just made to return to camp. Clarke made sure to walk ahead of the group, next to Monty rather than with Wells and Finn. She couldn’t deal with them both trying to capture her attention when it needed to be focused on saving Jasper. And Bellamy and John were both deeply entrenched in a conversation that they clearly didn’t plan on having with the others in the group. “Just as well,” Clarke thought, “I probably wouldn’t want to know anyway.”

Approaching the clearing they found the river in, Clarke was pushed from behind and sent down to her hands and knees, Murphy quickly reaching around her to subdue her. He held her down to the ground and extended her left arm, while Bellamy approached her with the metal rod he had been using to pry the wristbands off the others. Trying with all her might to get free, Clarke was surprised when suddenly the weight that had been holding her down disappeared. Finn was standing in front of Bellamy, blocking him from coming any closer to Clarke and when she turned her head she saw that Wells had tackled Murphy to get him away from her. Standing up she turned her eyes onto Bellamy in a stare that burned hotter than the sun. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You think you can just force people to do what you want when they refuse? You’re no better than the council you say you hate so much. It is everyone’s choice whether or not they want their wristbands on. You don’t have to like it, but you do not get to go around like a vigilante taking that choice out of their hands and into yours. What is wrong with you?”

Bellamy made a move to go after Clarke again, stopped by Wells’ voice. “Take mine. Leave Clarke alone and take mine.” Turning surprised eyes onto the bane of her existence Clarke told Wells, “If you take that off your father will think you’re dead Wells. You can’t.” “He’ll understand. If they take mine and leave you alone, I’ll have been doing what I’ve been trying to do all along-protect my best friend.” Figuring he could get the Princess’ wristband another time, Bellamy agreed and while Murphy was holding Wells down, Bellamy removed his wristband before beginning to walk away to look for Jasper. Finn joined them, promising to keep an eye on both of them before they did anything else ridiculous.

“It’s noble of you to try to continue to protect me, but being that you’ve already failed miserably at that once, maybe you should let me take care of myself,” Clarke said. “Clarke, you don’t understand. I’m sorry about what happened to your dad, more than I could ever tell you, but it isn’t what you think.” “Isn’t what I think?! Wells you were the only person who even knew what my dad knew! I trusted you with this because you were my best friend and you betrayed me because you had to go running to daddy. And he floated my dad Wells. And then I got thrown in prison. So don’t tell me it isn’t what I think. It’s exactly what I think. I was wrong to trust you. That much is clear because you are the only person, besides me, besides my mom who knew anything,” Clarke yelled. At this Wells could not meet her eyes, instead hanging his head and staring at the ground silent.

Clarke knew Wells better than pretty much anyone in the world, she knew what he was feeling just by looking into his eyes, could tell how he was feeling using the micro expressions of his face as a guide, and was able to determine when he was lying when he couldn’t meet her gaze. “Wait…” Clarke thought. “Wells. Look at me.” He shuffled his feet but still didn’t lift his head. “What could you be lying about right now? You already admitted to telling your father when I confronted you about it…actually, no, you didn’t. You didn’t admit or deny anything. You just stood there silently, a lot like you are right now. But if you didn’t tell your father….then who?” Clarke wondered out loud. It took all of five seconds for her to realize there was only one other person on the Ark that knew about any of this. “Wells. Did you tell your father?” A shake of his head was her only response. “No. She wouldn’t have. She loved him. She was his wife.” “I’m sorry Clarke.” “My mother is the reason my father got floated? She’s the one that turned him in?!” “I wish there was more I could do for you, I really do,” said Wells. “Wells, why did you let me think it was you? Why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” Clarke asked. “You were going to lose your father Clarke. I couldn’t take away the only parent you would have had left. You would recover from losing a best friend, but losing both of your parents-you wouldn’t have bounced back from that.” “So you let me hate you so I wouldn’t have to hate my mother?” “Well, what are best friends for?” Wells said with a grin that Clarke hadn’t seen in so long that she almost forgot what it looked like. Almost moved to tears by the sacrifice Wells was willing to make for her Clarke threw her arms around him and held tight. “I missed my best friend so much Wells. So much.” Wrapping his arms around her waist he squeeze as he replied, “Me too Clarke. Me too. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Abby said. Stopping what she was doing Raven turned to Abby with a raised eyebrow. “What are you talking about Doc?” Abby closed the door behind her, taking care to check that no one had followed her. “Here’s the pressure regulator you needed. You have fifteen minutes max to finish repairing this shit and get this hunk of metal off the Ark before we both descend to earth without the help of this pod.” Eyes widening in fear Raven stood up and asked, “What the hell is going on Abby? Fifteen minutes? We were supposed to have another three days for this! The pod isn’t ready. I’m not ready. We’re supposed to go together.” Shaking her head Abby explained the situation that was happening on the ground as best as she could with limited information. “Someone also knows that I got my hands on a pressure regulator, so this pod needs to be off this ship in fifteen minutes or neither of us are ever going to see Clarke or Finn again. You can do this Reyes. There’s a reason I came for you, why I chose you to be the one to help me with this. You’re the only one who can. The only one as motivated as I am to get down there.” “But Abby, Clarke…she needs you to be there too.” With a wry smile and a single tear tracking down her cheek Abby responded, “I know. And I will be. Just not today Reyes. Get back to work. Thirteen minutes now.”

Raven turned her attention back to the pod, finishing the wiring she had been working on when Abby walked into the room. Noting that the only repair she had left to make was to install the pressure regulator she realized that she was about to leave the Ark behind and head to the ground in a pod that had no guarantee of surviving. That she would be making this trip alone. That she would finally see Finn again at the end of it. The thought of being reunited with her soulmate filled her with warmth and the determination to see this through. While putting the finishing touches on the regulator installation she heard voices in the hallway. Looking down at her watch she realized she had three minutes before her time was up. Closing the hatch to the pod and turning the controls on she ran a quick diagnostic on the air pressure system only to find out that whoever had given Doctor Griffin the pressure regulator had given her a faulty one. Hearing the voices drawing closer, she looked around the room in desperation, trying to find a way in which she could still successfully complete her mission. It was on her third trip around the room that she found it. A spacesuit, probably as old as the pod itself, was propped up in the corner. “Well if I’m gonna go, I might as well go out in style,” she thought.

Abby thought of every excuse she could to keep the guards and Marcus out of the storage room where Reyes was working on the pod. “Come on Raven. I need you to get off this ship. Now,” she thought. Just as the guards approached the door and turned the handle she heard the distinct sound of a pod being released from the Ark. Releasing the breath she had been holding and sighing in relief, Abby turned to Marcus and said, “Well Councilman Kane, I believe this is the part where you take me under arrest.”

“Rest Octavia. You need to rest. That beast did a number on you. You’re going to be fine but for the next few days you have to take it easy and give your leg time to heal,” said the girl who had just finished bandaging Octavia’s leg. Nodding and feeling quite like sleeping anyway, the young brunette’s only response was a soft “Mmmkay.” Dozing off shortly afterwards, Octavia dreamed of those beautiful fluorescent butterflies, the trees glowing green with the moss that covered them. She dreamed of finding adventure and finally being able to be free, to be a person without having to hide, without having to live under the floor as a secret. Waking in the morning proved to be a painful experience for Octavia when she tried to jump out of the bed she was in before she remembered the damage that had been done to her leg the day before. Wincing at the pain radiating up her thigh she clamped down her teeth and remained silent, not wanting to alert anyone to her wakefulness. “I refuse to be kept a prisoner anymore. Fifteen years of my life was enough: first under the floor, then in an actual prison. I’m done. Bellamy thinks I can’t take care of myself, well I’m going to prove him wrong.”

Packing a small bag with supplies, Octavia snuck out of the dropship under the cover of a still unrisen sun, quietly creeping through the camp and into the woods. “Sorry Bell, but I can’t be held hostage anymore,” she thought as she made her way over rocks and through trees before cresting a small hill. Occupied by her thoughts of searching for and finding Jasper and rescuing him Octavia wasn’t paying close enough attention to her footing on the uneven ground and slipped on an exposed root, rolling down the hill, only coming to a stop with a crack of her head against a large rock. Slipping rapidly into unconsciousness she couldn’t help but to think that her luck might never change after all.

When Clarke and the others reach the tree where she had last seen Jasper they agree to split up. Wells, Finn and Clarke head in one direction while Bellamy, Murphy and Monty take the other. After a short walk further into the woods Clarke comes upon a sight that has her bent over against a tree and dry heaving in seconds. Looking back at what she found she sees Jasper has been strung up on a tree, bleeding profusely and seemingly unconscious, possibly even dead. Wiping her mouth she goes to move forward, fully intending on untying him from the tree and doing whatever she is able to save his life. She is stopped by a hand on her arm and meets Finn’s eyes as he shakes his head in the negative. “Together Princess. We’re in this together.” Nodding at him she turns to Wells and together they approach the tree. Stepping up to the base of it to get a closer look, Clarke feels the ground disappear from beneath her feet and plummets into a hole in the ground with a scream. “Clarke!” she hears from both Wells and Finn. Before she can hit the ground she feels a hand around her arm, holding her suspended in midair halfway between the surface and the bottom of the trap she walked right into. “Bellamy! Murphy! Monty! Over here!” she hears Wells yelling. Looking up she sees what she least expects-Finn Collins holding onto her with a vice grip. His face is red with exertion but his eyes are alight with determination and Clarke, for maybe the first time since they hit the ground, finds security in the fact that she knows he will not let go.

Bellamy Murphy and Monty appear from the other side of the tree and rush forward to help Finn pull Clarke out of the crater. Once she is back on solid ground Clarke breathes a sigh of relief and turns to Finn, offering him a nod of appreciation as well as a small smile. “Maybe the spacewalker isn’t as much of an ass as I thought he was after all,” she thinks. After catching their breath the delinquents come up with a plan to release Jasper from the tree and get him back to camp. Once he is cut down Clarke reaches for his neck to check for a pulse and finding a faint one says, “He’s alive. I have no idea how, but he won’t be for much longer unless we get back to camp and I can treat his wounds.” As they begin their trip back towards the others, mission successful, Clarke catches herself looking at Finn. She wonders if maybe she had been too quick to judge. It’s no secret that Clarke is hesitant to let people in, but maybe it’s time for her to try to change that. “And who better to do that with than the boy who literally just saved my life,” she ponders. Deciding she will give him a chance she speeds up a bit to walk next to him. “Hey Finn. I wanted to thank you. For saving me back there. And I’m sorry for being so hostile towards you from the beginning. I’m not really good with people.” “You don’t have to thank me Clarke. I know I’m not your favorite person, but I’m not a bad guy. If you gave me a chance I could probably prove that to you.” “Maybe. You can start by not calling me Princess anymore.” “Deal. See-people aren’t so hard,” Finn remarks with a wry grin. With a slight smile and roll of her eyes Clarke nudges him and they continue the trip back to the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wasn't supposed to end here. But I was already at 5K words and had quite a few more things I wanted to include, so I decided to split it into two chapters. That means, my dear readers, that you get TWO updates this week, since I slacked last week. The next chapter will be posted either tomorrow or Thursday, depending on how long it takes me to finish it. But yeah- yay for double updates! (Don't expect too many in the future though. ;))
> 
> And as an apology for the delay with this chapter, have a sneak peek of Chapter 4:
> 
> He comes around to face her and with a rag begins to clean the blood from her face. Wary and a bit more than at a loss about what’s happening, she raises her head to meet his gaze and asks, “Who are you? How did you find me? Why did you bring me here?” She is met with stony silence. “Great. Of course you don’t speak English. Why would anything in my life ever be simple? Or I don’t know-make sense.”


	4. The Hopeful/The Hopeless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Raven?” he half whispers. The woman in the pod comes to slowly, shaking her head and turning to look at the people standing outside of the door. “Finn?!” She unbuckles herself and is in Finn’s arms in seconds, a passionate kiss immediately following the hug while Clarke can do nothing but stand there and stare. Breaking away from the kiss Finn looks back and forth between Raven and Clarke and is struck speechless. The silence is broken by Raven stepping forward and extending her hand, “Clarke Griffin. I’m Raven Reyes, zero-g mechanic, your mother’s super-secret rescue plan, and Finn’s girlfriend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so here we go, next installment ready for your viewing pleasure. I know this story has been slow going, believe me I know, because it has been for me writing it. This chapter though, is the start of some of the bigger changes to canon that I have in mind, and where the action starts to pick up a little. So I hope you can manage to be patient with me for a little while longer.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think.
> 
> Trigedasleng translations will be at the bottom of the chapter.

When Octavia regains consciousness she knows immediately that she is being watched. Looking around in an attempt to find out where she was and what the hell had happened she meets the eyes of the person standing in the shadows of the trees she came to a stop in front of. Before she can move or scream for help he is on top of her, with a hand over her mouth. Struggling against him she finds that between her leg injury and the recent blow to her head, her limbs don’t seem to want to cooperate with her. Before she knows it her head is spinning again and then she is being lifted into the stranger’s arms and carried away. The last thing she sees before her eyes close are those belonging to the person in whose arms she rests, looking down on her with what confusingly appears to be concern.

When she comes to again she is in another different place, this time a cave, semi-lit by candles. Looking around she sees a fire and a bed, but no other person there with her. Struggling to sit up she is startled by a gentle hand on her shoulder. He comes around to face her and with a rag begins to clean the blood from her face. Wary and a bit more than at a loss about what’s happening, she raises her head to meet his gaze and asks, “Who are you? How did you find me? Why did you bring me here?” She is met with stony silence. “Great. Of course you don’t speak English. Why would anything in my life ever be simple? Or I don’t know-make sense.” She allows him to finish cleaning the laceration on her forehead and then leans away from him, feeling that she has shown enough weakness to a person she doesn’t know. Deciding that when he leaves she will make her escape she bides her time by looking around the room again. It seems to be some sort of living quarters. Aside from the bed there is a small table against the wall, stacked with a few books and she gulps as she realizes, more than a couple of weapons. “Now I really need this guy to leave. God Octavia, how do you always end up in these situations?” she berates herself internally.

The rescue group returns to the camp to the cheers of the others once they see the mission was successful. Clarke orders Finn and Murphy to bring Jasper up into the dropship so she can look over his injuries and assess what kind of shape he is in. As they begin walking away Bellamy storms out of the dropship, fury in his eyes as he yells, “OCTAVIA?! O, where the hell are you?” Turning to and fro searching the camp, Clarke’s eyes have yet to find the younger Blake. After another five minutes of screaming for his sister and searching through the camp it becomes apparent that she isn’t there. Knowing she is injured Bellamy is instantly struck with fear for his little sister. “I’m going to look for her,” he says. Knowing better than to argue Clarke nods and suggests he take a group of them to help him. “I would join you myself but someone has to look after Jasper.” “You stay Princess. I’ll find her. My sister, my responsibility.”

Octavia comes to the realization quickly that this person has no plans of leaving her here alone. Either due to lack of trust or out of concern for her injuries she honestly doesn’t care. She needs to find a way out of here and back to camp. While he is tending the fire she grabs a nearby rock and hits him in the head. As he is stunned she gets to her feet and makes her way out of the cave. Running through the forest she comes across three of the other delinquents. “What are you three doing out here?” “Looking for you. Bellamy got back to camp after rescuing Jasper and found out you were missing and damn near lost his mind. We’ve been out here for a while searching for you,” is her answer. “Well where is my brother then?” O asks. Before she can receive a reply from the other girl she is laying on the ground, dead. Looking around her she sees that they are surrounded by people who look suspiciously like the person who rescued her earlier. She soon realizes that these people bear little resemblance to the man that helped her; their eyes are filled with violence and blood thirst, not concern. She and the two other delinquents take off running through the trees, attempting to escape the warriors intent on killing them. She makes it past three trees before she is yanked to the side and a hand is wrapped over her mouth. “Again? Really?” she thinks. Turning her head to see who her captor is she meets those worried eyes that have haunted her since she left the cave. Realizing that her savior is once again, well, saving her, she remains quiet as she watches the other two delinquents meet untimely ends at the hands of the others that had surrounded them. Turning to the stranger she begins, “I don’t know who you are and I don’t know why you have saved me twice now, but thank you.” Before she can say anymore Bellamy is behind her rescuer and is knocking him unconscious. “Bell! No. You don’t understand,” she tries. But the deed has been done. Bellamy stands over his body and declares that they will take him back to camp with them to get information out of him. He turns his eyes to his sister and tells her that they will talk about her walkabout later, because they have to get back and help Clarke care for Jasper.

“Finn, I need water and clean rags. I have to clear the blood off so I can look at the wounds on Jasper’s body,” Clarke says. Looking around the dropship Finn finds what Clarke needs and brings the items to her, crouching down and looking over Jasper’s body. “There are more wounds than the one from the spear, did they torture him and then tie him to that tree?” he asks. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense. There is some kind of poultice over the wound from the spear, like they gave him medical attention before cutting him elsewhere. I don’t understand any of this,” Clarke explains. She brings a finger to the wound on Jasper’s chest and swipes a finger through the film covering it. Spreading it between two fingers she is interrupted by Wells saying that it looks like the seaweed he saw in the river where Octavia was attacked. Wondering why they would care for this wound while inflicting others, Clarke’s attention is drawn down to one mark on Jasper’s ribs. It’s deeper than the others and is bleeding more steadily but it is the tint of black in his blood that concerns her the most. “What the hell is this?”

Before her question can be answered there is a commotion out in the camp that carries into the dropship when Bellamy and Miller come in dragging someone with them. “Bellamy. What’s going on? Did you find Octavia?” Clarke asks. “Octavia is right here, trying to explain that the person Bell is dragging around saved her life,” Octavia answers. Confused Clarke turns to her, “What do you mean?” “I was out exploring because I’m tired of being kept a prisoner and I fell. He found me and took me somewhere. Cleaned me up and took care of me. Then saved my life again when I escaped the cave and ran into a bunch of other people like him who were trying to kill me and the people out looking for me. Bellamy knocked him unconscious and decided to bring him here to get him to talk. But he won’t listen to me when I tell him that the guy doesn’t speak English,” Octavia explains. Bellamy and Miller ignore the girls as they talk and bring their prisoner up to the other level of the dropship, chaining him up while Bellamy decides what they’re going to do with him. “Well, we need to try to get him to talk because I think Jasper might have been poisoned and I don’t know how I’m supposed to treat something when I don’t know what it is,” Clarke says. Octavia’s eyes are blown wide in fear for Jasper until she shakes herself and goes up to where her brother is. “Bellamy, let me try to talk to him. Please,” she pleads. “You get one chance O, and then we do it my way.”

She approaches her savior wearing a gentle smile and meets eyes full of anger. “Hey. I know that this isn’t where you expected to be, or how, but we need your help. You helped me, so I’m hoping that you’ll help my friends. Your people attacked him, put a spear through his chest, and then kidnapped him. My friend Clarke thinks he’s been poisoned, but we don’t know how to treat that. Can you help me? Please?” Octavia asks the prisoner. He looks at her, eyes softening when he sees that she’s begun bleeding again, but shakes his head in the negative. Before O can ask again Bellamy drags her away and Miller starts whipping him with a seatbelt from the dropship. “Stop it! Bell! He didn’t do anything! He saved my life! Please stop it!” Bellamy ignores her for a short while, then stops Miller with a simple call of his name. “Last chance grounder. Answer my sister’s question,” Bellamy warns. “Please, tell me how to help my friend so I can help you. We’ll free you if you just tell us how to treat the poison.” He jerks his head in the direction of the belongings that were stripped from him when they chained him up. Octavia bends down and goes through the collection, passing a book to a case that she opens and finds to be full of vials. “Which one is it grounder?” Bellamy growls as he steps closer. The prisoner reacts with a head-butt that results in blood streaming over Bellamy’s mouth and chin, before a flurry of fists meet his ribs. “Stop it! Jasper can die, just stop it!” Octavia yells. They ignore her, and she decides it will take something far more drastic than yelling to get their attention. Her eyes are drawn to a dagger that rests with the rest of the belongings; she picks it up and places it against her forearm, bringing both men to stillness and silence. Bellamy is opening his mouth to ask her what she’s doing while the prisoner is shaking his head no with a look of fear in his eyes. “Guess that means this is laced with poison too. Good. Now you’ll answer my question,” Octavia says as she draws the blade across her forearm, leaving a thin strip of blood in its wake. “Which one is it? Or are you going to let me die too?”

“I did not imagine that this trip was going to be so damn bumpy. I’m going to have bruises on top of bruises when I land. If I survive,” Raven thinks. Thankfully the ancient suit she’s wearing seems to be holding up and she hasn’t suffocated. Yet. Reaching forward to prepare to engage the reverse thrusters, her attention is drawn to the metal raven hanging from the pod display. “I’m coming Finn. I’m coming.” Breaking into the Earth’s atmosphere Raven throws the switch for the thrusters just as the escape pod is surrounded in flames. “At least if I go down I’m going down in a blaze of glory,” she says out loud. “Shit Reyes, you’re so punny.” The thrusters kick on and she begins to slow down, her gaze drawn to the beauty of the planet she’s about to land on. Blown away by all the colors, Raven’s fear is eclipsed by the excitement and wonder flowing through her system. She cannot believe that she’s about to set foot on Earth, something that wasn’t supposed to be possible for at least another hundred years. “Granted the circumstances could be better, but beggars can’t be choosers I guess.” It’s the manic beeping that draws her attention back to the display on the dashboard of the pod. Everything is lit up and flashing and screaming at her and try as she might she can’t regulate any of the systems. The pod begins to pick up speed once again and Raven accepts that her landing is going to be more of a crash than a graceful setting down. Bracing herself against the dash and preparing for a rough landing, it takes mere minutes before the pod makes contact with the ground and consciousness is lost when everything goes black around her.

“Is it this one?” Octavia asks holding up one of the vials. “Answer her!” Bellamy demands. “Or this one?” she says holding another. She gets to the third one, and the poison and the blood-loss are starting to make it more difficult for her to think. “Maybe this one?” she slurs. With an emphatic nod from the captive Octavia uncorks the vial and sips the antidote, confident that her trust in this man is not misplaced. She gives the vial to Bellamy and tells him to bring it to Clarke and tell her that it’s the antidote for the poison in Jasper’s system. Moving forward she meets the man’s eyes and promises him, “I will free you. I’ll make sure that they don’t hurt you anymore. And now that I know you can understand me, it’ll be easier. What’s your name?” He remains silent for a long minute, waiting to see if Miller is going to leave them alone now that he’s answered their questions. Deciding his fate has already been decided and he has nothing to do, he answers Octavia’s question. “My name is Lincoln.”

“Here Princess. This is the antidote for the poison,” Bellamy says as he hands Clarke the vial. “How do you know? Where did you even get this?” Clarke asks. “It’s a long story that involves my sister being reckless yet again, but it’s the truth. Give it to Jasper before it’s too late.” Clarke moves over to Jasper and tips his head back to pour the antidote into his mouth. Her only worry is that it isn’t enough to counteract the amount of poison already in his bloodstream. A concern well founded when an hour later she is called back into the dropship because Jasper is in the middle of a seizure. Turning him onto his side to ensure that he doesn’t choke on the foam and saliva building in his mouth and placing her jacket under his head, she yells for Finn. “We need more of the antidote, tell Octavia she needs to find out where it came from and how to make more.” Nodding Finn ascends the ladder to the second level of the ship and explains the situation to Octavia and Lincoln, who informs them that there is no more antidote, that was all he had, but they can try to use another way. He tells them of a river nearby that grows seaweed that his people use to treat infections and poisoned wounds. When Finn returns to Clarke with this information she remembers Wells mentioning the seaweed in the river they were in when Jasper was attacked. “Wells I need you to tell me exactly what this seaweed looks like so I can go get it. We’re going to have to make some kind of tea or broth to get it into Jasper’s system when I get back. Finn you stay here and watch over Jasper.” “Not a chance in hell Clarke. You aren’t going alone. Wells can look after Jasper, I’m going with you,” Finn responds. Too tired to argue she just nods in acceptance and prepares to leave.

They almost make it to the river. Almost. Of course nothing can go right for Clarke, not even when she’s trying to save someone’s life. The fog descended on them when they were mere feet from the riverbed, and Finn had to drag her bodily back into the woods to find shelter. Which is how they ended up crashing in some kind of bunker. How Finn knew where it was is beyond Clarke but being that it’s the only thing keeping her alive she can’t complain. “I found it the first day we landed, when everyone was scattered and exploring. I haven’t told anyone because I know there will be fighting. But now I’m glad I knew where it was. Otherwise we’d be dead, and so would Jasper,” Finn explains. He then pushes something towards Clarke on the table in front of them, hands moving to uncover a metal replica of the two headed deer they had come across on their way to Mount Weather. Failing to suppress her grin, Clarke takes the figurine into her hands, turning it over to inspect the effort put into it. “I guess you aren’t my last choice for person to be stuck with here waiting for the acid fog to lift, Finn.” “Hey now Griffin, that was almost a compliment. Better be careful or I might start to think you like me or something.” “The last thing I want is for you to think I like you Collins. I can barely stand your ego now,” Clarke replies. “And she’s back. Nice to see you again Clarke, I was a bit worried you were going to be nice to me from now on. It was weird.” “Shut up Finn, I can be nice.” With a laugh Finn nods in agreement. “Just not to me.” Hearing the shoddily disguised hurt in his voice, Clarke moves closer to him on the couch. “Listen, I’m sorry about how this all started. Like I told you I’m not good with people. And to be honest, you were a bit of an idiot on the dropship. But you aren’t responsible for those other kids, for their deaths. They decided to take off their seatbelts, you didn’t make them. It isn’t your fault Finn. I’m sorry I was such a bitch about it.” Brown eyes rise to meet Clarke’s and seeing the truth in blue depths, Finn accepts her apology. “It’s fine Clarke. I was being stupid, you’re right. I don’t think any of us were prepared for any of this. To have to handle this alone.” Clarke puts her hand on top of Finn’s, curling their fingers together. “Well maybe we don’t have to handle it alone,” Clarke begins. “Maybe we can handle it together,” she finishes against his lips.

She wakes up the next morning tangled in blankets on the floor in the makeshift bed Finn had put together the night before. Turning to her right she finds Finn already facing her with a smile on his face. “Don’t ruin it Collins. Just stay quiet,” she warns. He complies and reaches forward to draw her towards him and kisses her lightly on the lips. They break apart a few minutes later and Clarke is brought back to the reason they’re in the bunker in the first place. “Shit. Finn, get up. We have to get to the river and find that seaweed. The fog has to be cleared by now.” She starts getting dressed and turns to find Finn still lying in the sheets with a grin on his face. “Oh my god. We don’t have time for this. Get up and get dressed.” “I’m glad I got trapped here with you Clarke. I wouldn’t have wanted it to be anyone else.” Anger tempered by the unexpected sweetness Clarke offers him a soft smile and says, “Me too. Now let’s go. We’ve got a friend’s life to save.” They find the river and the seaweed in no time at all and while Finn is attempting to come up with a plan for how to obtain the plant, Clarke splashes right into the river and yanks it out of the ground. “We don’t have time for carefulness. We don’t have a lot of time at all. Jasper is dying,” she explains when Finn turns eyes widened in disbelief in her direction. “Come on. We need to get this back to camp.”

On their way back to the others they come across scorch marks in an open field. Finn suggests getting back to the camp and sending others to come investigate but of course Clarke is already following the trail and not listening. Rolling his eyes he jogs to catch up to her and breaking through a few trees he is stopped in his tracks by what he sees. “Is that what I think it is Clarke?” he asks. “If you think it’s an escape pod from the Ark then yes Finn, it’s exactly what you think it is.” She barely finishes her sentence before she’s off in the direction of the still smoking ship, walking around to the other side of it before yelling, “There’s someone inside!” Finn comes up to her side and together they manage to get the door open to find the last person he had ever expected to see again. “Raven?” he half whispers. The woman in the pod comes to slowly, shaking her head and turning to look at the people standing outside of the door. “Finn?!” She unbuckles herself and is in Finn’s arms in seconds, a passionate kiss immediately following the hug while Clarke can do nothing but stand there and stare. Breaking away from the kiss Finn looks back and forth between Raven and Clarke and is struck speechless. The silence is broken by Raven stepping forward and extending her hand, “Clarke Griffin. I’m Raven Reyes, zero-g mechanic, your mother’s super-secret rescue plan, and Finn’s girlfriend.”

The tea Clarke made when they got back to camp works, but works slowly. It is a day and a half before Jasper regains consciousness-a day and a half that she spent avoiding Finn Collins and his pitiful excuses and pleading eyes. “I should have known better. I really should have known better. This is why you don’t get close to people Griffin,” she berates internally. Shaking herself, she makes her way over to the table where Raven is working on figuring out a way to repair the radio that was damaged in her landing. “Any progress?” Clarke asks. “No. I don’t know if I can even fix this, not without the right tools and parts. This is hopeless,” is Raven’s response. “Keep trying Raven, if anyone can do this it’s you.” “You know, for the person who’s been sleeping with my boyfriend, you’re being awfully complimentary.” Closing her eyes at the pain that shoots through her at the remark, Clarke returns with “I told you Raven, I didn’t know he had a girlfriend. It wasn’t exactly something we talked about beforehand. It kind of just happened. And I’m sorry. Had I known you existed it never would have happened.” Looking towards the blonde she says, “The worst part of all this Blondie, is that I believe you. I can’t even really be mad at you. I’m beyond furious at Finn, but you? How could you have known?” Accepting the truth in the other girl’s words, Clarke refocuses on the radio. “If there’s no chance of repairing the radio, we have to think of another way to let the Ark know that you, and the rest of us, are alive. Some kind of signal.” “I don’t think smoke signals would work Griffin, they’re a bit too far away from us being in space and all.” Rolling her eyes at the mechanic, Clarke thinks of all the materials they have at their disposal, coming up with nothing. “God you would think they’d send us down here with some kind of backup plan. A flare or something we could set off in the case that the communications system went down. But all we have are bags made from seatbelts and cushions and a huge amount of useless rocket fuel.” At the last two words of the sentence Raven’s head snaps up, “Did you just say rocket fuel Griffin?” Nodding at the question while raising an eyebrow in question, Clarke prepares to answer verbally before she’s cut off. “Rocket fuel Griffin! God you’re so blind for someone so smart. We can use the rocket fuel to send up flares, with enough fuel they’ll reach high enough and burn bright enough to be seen by the Ark!” Cracking her first smile in what feels like years Clarke praises, “Raven Reyes, you genius, I think you just saved all of our lives.”

It takes a few hours for them to collect the fuel they’ll need for the six flares Raven rigged together. Once the last one is ready to be launched, Clarke meets Raven at the first set of flares. “Ready to send a message Griffin?” Raven asks. “I’ve been ready Reyes, let’s do this. Let’s save our people.” Together they light the first fuse and step back, watching as first theirs and then the other flares take off, blazing red through the night sky. Bursting with pride Raven turns her head to glance at Clarke, an unlikely ally and possible friend, but is met with brown instead of blue. She glares at Finn for a single second before marching into the dropship to get back to work on the radio. Finn attempts to make eye contact with Clarke; when he does, she just simply shakes her head and walks away. Clarke walks into the dropship and up to the bed that Jasper is laying on while he recovers. He’s asleep when she gets there so she just checks his vitals and makes sure that everything is as it should be. Once she’s done with that, she finds herself drawn into a corner of the room, knees to her chest, as she sends up a heartfelt prayer that the flares work and that help will be arriving because she doubts her ability to lead a group of teenagers on an unknown planet crawling with people who want them dead.

“I want them dead. All of them. _Jus drein jus daun_ ,”she orders. “Heda, are you sure this is wise? We know nothing about these people, of where they came from or what they want,” Gustus says. “ _Ai laik Heda, Gustus,”_ she begins. “You dare question me?” “No Commander, I just wish for you to think through all possibilities in the scenario.” “Gustus is right,” comes from the commander’s left. “You don’t know anything about them. About what kind of weapons they may have or what their goals are. You’ve never been one to seek blood over knowledge first. You were taught better than that. I know you were because I’m the one that taught you first. You do remember being my _seken_ don’t you _striksis_?” “ _Shof op Onya_ ,” Lexa growls. “I’ve told you not to call me that. While we do not know anything about them the fact remains that they burned one of my villages to the ground, killed dozens of my people. The coalition and Titus will not stand for that going unavenged.” Anya rolls her eyes, “Lexa, Titus is not the leader of the coalition. You are. You’re the only one that can decide what is to be done in this situation, and you need to use your head.” Getting to her feet Lexa charges towards Anya, “You’re right Anya, Titus is not the leader. Neither are you. Neither is Gustus. I am. Yet you both stand here and dare to question my decisions. Are you both sure that is wise?” “ _Beja Leksa, em pleni. Oso laik seingeda. Ai chich yu au kom disha we otaim_ ,” Anya responds.

With a deep breath, Lexa calms and meets the eyes of the two people she trusts above any others. “What are the two of you suggesting then? While I do not relish the idea of massacring an entire population of people, I will do so if it’s necessary. You know this.” Gustus is the first to respond, “Sha Lexa, we know. Perhaps send a small party of warriors along with an envoy to deliver a message to their leader from you. Ask to schedule a meeting, attempt talks at peace before you bring them war.” Anya steps forward and says, “I’ll go. Let me try to talk to them. From what little we do know-they are all young, practically _yongon_. Perhaps this does not need to end in bloodshed Lexa.” Pacing the room with her hands clasped behind her back, Lexa considers the benefits of their suggestion. “You would have me send one of my most trusted generals along with a handful of warriors into a camp I know nothing about, filled with scared teenagers who have already proven themselves capable of at least capturing one of us?” Grinning because she knows they have already won Lexa over, Anya answers her. “Do you doubt this trusted general’s ability to handle herself _Heda_?” “No Anya, but I do not trust what I do not know. You will take five of your best warriors with you. You will remain vigilant at all times, you will be the warrior that you trained me to be, am I understood? I will not tolerate mistakes or missteps.” “ _Nau get daun Leksa. Yu dula yu job op en ai na dula ain job op.”_ With a single nod Lexa dismisses Anya and Gustus to prepare for the former’s trip to the enemy camp. Sitting once more on her throne, Lexa finds herself hoping that her faith in Anya and Anya’s faith in herself remains as well founded as it always has been.

It takes half a day for Anya and her warriors to reach the area near the camp. They remained on the other side of the bridge, waiting for news from the scout they sent ahead to monitor the others. “Scared children are wont to do dangerous things without thinking them through,” Anya thinks to herself. She doesn’t support the idea of another war, but she will support Lexa and whatever decision she comes to make. Her loyalty is unwavering in her former _seken_ and her leadership over their people. “With any luck I can talk to the leader of these people and reach an understanding before any more blood must be shed,” she hopes. These hopes are dashed over a span of fifteen minutes. Apparently she was not the only one with scouts in the woods, because the others are prepared for her arrival, an arrival that they should not have even known about. There are three of them across the bridge, two males and a female who appears to be in charge from the way she is speaking to the other two. Anya steps forward and begins, “We are not here to fight. We are not here to harm you. We’ve come to speak with your leader. Allow us to cross the bridge so we can have peace between us.” The blonde begins to step forward but is held back by the taller boy with the dark hair. “Clarke it could be a trap,” Bellamy warns. “We won’t survive going to war with them Bellamy. We have to hope that they’re honest in their want for peace.” She wrenches her arm from his grip and keeps moving forward with her hands held out in front of her, “My name is Clarke. We don’t want to fight either. Drop your weapons and you can cross the bridge.” Anya turns to look at her warriors and just as she nods for them to lower their weapons, the bushes to her right rustle and break open to reveal another person armed with a _fayagon_. “What is the meaning of this?” she yells.

Clarke seems as surprised by this person’s arrival as Anya is, “What the hell are you doing Miller?” “I’m making sure no more of us die at the hands of the grounders Princess, which is what you should be doing.” He crosses in front of the group of warriors, holding his aim on Anya as he backs up. “Miller, you idiot. We’re talking about wanting peace not war, you are not helping.” Shaking his head Miller argues, “These savages don’t know what peace is. They can’t be trusted.” He turns and grabs Clarke, dragging her from the center of the bridge when he yells, “Now Jasper!” A single shot is heard and before Clarke can turn around she feels the heat of fire against her back as she is sent flying through the air from the force of the explosion. Slowly getting to her feet she whirls in the direction of where the bridge used to be only to find that the whole middle portion of it is rubble beneath its former location. Moving her gaze across the expanse of the canyon between them she focuses on the figures moving around in the smoke remaining from the blast. She hears the order for a retreat and just like that her hopes for peace on the ground are gone.

Whirling on Miller she shoves him in the chest while yelling, “What the hell is your problem Miller?! You just signed all of our death warrants! We could have come to an understanding and none of us would have had to die but no, you had to come in playing a vigilante! What is wrong with you?” “They would have killed us all eventually Princess. Stop kidding yourself. We could have never had peace with those savages,” Bellamy defends Miller. “You knew about this didn’t you? Hell, it was probably your idea. God, you’re both idiots. We could have learned to live on the ground together, but now? Now we have to go back to camp and figure out how to spend our last hours here because when they come back it will be with a lot more people and a lot more weapons. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.” As Clarke storms away Finn turns to Bellamy and shaking his head says, “You really messed up Bellamy. Now we’re all screwed.”

Finn finds Clarke walking through the woods and when he catches up to her he reaches out to grab her arm to stop her. “Clarke, stop. We need to talk.” Shoving him away from her she says, “I have nothing to say to you Finn. Not a damn word.” “I’m sorry Clarke. I didn’t think I would ever see Raven again, I thought, I don’t know what I thought. But I never meant to hurt you.” “Yeah but you did Finn. You hurt me. You hurt Raven. And for what? A quick hook-up? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you. Thank you for proving me right.” Moving to walk away from him Clarke is stopped by what he says next, “I love you. It wasn’t a quick hook-up, it wasn’t meaningless. I love you. Please. Talk to me Clarke. We can work this out.” Shaking her head she responds, “There is nothing to work out Finn. Whatever you and I were, whatever we could have been, it’s gone. Let it go, I have.” Finn lets her leave this time.

They return to the camp separately but within minutes of each other and find it in turmoil. The majority of the delinquents all look scared for their lives, “which they should be,” Clarke thinks. Bellamy seems to be grouping those loyal to him together over in one corner of the camp, riling them up for battle, giving them a false sense of hope in the possibility that they could win. She interrupts his tirade with one of her own, “We need to leave. Now. They will be coming back. There will be more of them. They will be looking for blood thanks to Miller and Bellamy and whoever blew the bridge. We aren’t safe here.” “We aren’t safe out there!” Bellamy argues. “We’ve been here, we’ve made a home here, we’ve built a wall around the camp. We’re safer here than anywhere else Princess.” “Bellamy’s right. We did build here, we made as much of a home as we could under the circumstances, but this home is about to be torn to the ground by an army we have no hope of beating. You can stay or you can go, I will no longer pretend that I am capable of telling you what’s best for all of us. But staying here is committing suicide, there is no way we can defeat an army of that size. Not with the weapons we have. We leave at first light.”

“You leave at first light,” Lexa orders. “Leave us.” Anya and Gustus are the only two that remain in the tent with the commander. “I told you they could not be trusted Anya. You could have been killed, we could have lost all five warriors and my most trusted general to a group of volatile children because you felt the need to challenge my orders.” “Lexa…” Anya begins and is cut off with a bark. “ _Shof op Onya. Ai don sen in em pleni. Oso jomp em op en oso frag em op. Jus drein jus daun.”_ Knowing that arguing will do nothing to help her case Anya offers a stoic nod and leaves the tent to begin preparations for war. “Gustus, you will not challenge another of my decisions today. Attempts at peace talks were made and met with an attempt to kill. Mercy will not be shown. Do you understand?” At his silent nod Lexa continues, “An army of three hundred warriors will prove more than enough to wipe out their camp. Leave no one behind.”

Clarke is drawn out of her restless slumber by the very last person she wants to see. “Clarke, get up.” “What the hell are you doing in here Finn? Was I not clear enough for you before?” “This isn’t about that, about us. We’re in trouble.” That wakes her up. “What do you mean we’re in trouble?” “Well Princess,” Bellamy interrupts, “it appears the grounders do not believe in the courtesy of waiting for daylight. Our camp is surrounded by hundreds of warriors. So your escape plan? Going to need a new one.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY LEXA IS FINALLY HERE! (Been waiting for that moment since I started this story to be honest so I'm pretty excited that I get to play with her when I'm writing now.)
> 
> Trigedasleng Translations: (did all of them whether or not I thought you guys would need it just to be safe)
> 
> Jus drein jus daun- Blood must have blood.  
> Ai laik Heda, Gustus- I am the Commander, Gustus.  
> seken-second (as in an apprentice)  
> striksis- little sister  
> Shof op Onya- Shut up Anya/Be quiet Anya  
> Beja Leksa, em pleni. Oso laik seingeda. Ai chich yu au kom disha we otaim- Please Lexa, enough. We are family. I talk to you this way all the time.  
> yongon-child/children  
> Nau get daun Leksa. Yu dula yu job op en ai na dula ain job op- Don't worry Lexa. You do your job and I will do mine.  
> Ai don sen in em pleni. Oso jomp em op en oso frag em op- I have heard enough. We attack them and we kill them.


End file.
